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“McLaren’s Whitmarsh stressed that he was ‘not criticising’ Ferrari, but added that it was not the way he believed race teams should be run. ‘I don?óÔé¼Ôäót think so,?óÔé¼?Ø he said. ?óÔé¼?ôI think it was quite a tough thing to do personally. I?óÔé¼Ôäóm not criticising anyone for what they do. Team principals have to decide how they run their teams and it?óÔé¼Ôäós very clear that Ferrari are very focused on Fernando.'”

Sebastian Vettel: “I think you misunderstood. I wasn’t complaining about Lewis, obviously. I wasn’t too happy send a nice big invitation to Lewis when I obviously had to go through Karthikeyan and he was basically right behind at the DRS zone; to do a big difference within one corner is hardly possible and then he took that opportunity – fair enough – down the straight and passed me. I tried to defend, I moved to the inside but I knew that he would have so much more speed that he can pick either side, so it didn’t really matter what I was doing and after that, I was obviously not too happy, because on all the laps before I tried to manage the gap to him, tried to manage the tyres until the end of the race, to be able to attack towards the last couple of laps. We had, I think, something like 20 laps, 15 laps to go at the time. It was not targeted at Lewis, it was more targeted at the backmarker which, as I said, gave a nice big envelope with an invitation to Lewis.”

“[Mario Andretti] said although the track has the best design for spectators that he has seen, he doesn’t expect a ‘big wow’ from foreign visitors. ‘The Formula One contingent is very used to being in the Taj Mahal,’ said Andretti, a Circuit Of The Americas ambassador. ‘Nothing is going to impress them.'”

“The first year of a new grand prix always attracts more people than the subsequent years. The US Grand Prix at Indianapolis had 225,000 in its first year, in 2000, but never again. So the real test will come not just this weekend, but next year and in the following years. For the moment, it still feels pretty weird.”

“More Formula One visitors are expected to come to Austin from Mexico than from any other foreign country, said Steve Alberts, communications manager at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. Four charter flights from Mexico were set to arrive in Austin carrying about 500 fans, said Jim Halbrook, a spokesman for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and more Mexican fans are flying to other Texas cities.”

Kevin Garside: “Alonso has enhanced his reputation this season by the brilliant husbandry of an inferior car, nicking a win here and there. That is precisely what Vettel did until Newey found something on his drawing board in the latter part of the season that worked.”

A good way to stop it is to have a 4(or 6) grid spot penalty for a gearbox change. Rather simple solution, I’m surprised I haven’t seen it mentioned earlier. And I think its nonsense that Ferrari only help Alonso. They’re helping him because he’s in the hunt for the CHAMPIONSHIP. Of course they’re going to back their driver who still has a chance at winning the championship. Thanks for the wonderful site Keith, I visit multiple times per day!

I would go much further than Whitmarsh and say Ferrari should be banned for at least one year. I have had it with them. They are spoilt brats. The fans and true racing are of no concern to them. We have seen them cheat some years ago by effectively telling Massa to get out the way of Alonso at a time it was not allowed. Ferrari have countless times flouted the rules especially during Schumacher’s era.

Many other teams including Red Bull have shown that manufacturers are not the bee-all-and-end-all of F1. Formula one can produce thrilling racing without them. And maybe the cost cutting measure could gain real traction without them.

Ferrari emotionally black mail far to many folks by protests about their F1 heritage. What a load of nonsense. When you constantly play by your own rules and bring the sport into disrepute then on your bike matey.

And if I remember correctly Ferrari also get a technical veto which in my book is outrageous and beyond any sense not to mention blatantly a conflict of interest and completely unfair to all the other teams. Every argument I have read about this has never as yet convinced me why they should still have this.

It’s time for Ferrari to take a break and if they then decide to play by everyone elses rules then they can come back after having had time to reflect. And I for one would be very interested to see their production cars sales if they take a sabbatical…

I think there’s nothing wrong with the team’s decision. The real is that really embarassing to me, was that this two guys playing their role…… Domencalli and Tombazis. It’s long enough for this guys playing hide and seek. Ever since Domenicalli and Tombazis take over the hot seat at ferrari, what kind of achivements do they bring???? None…… because ferrari nowdays moving backwards not forward in terms of developments and innovations. Come on LDM, get someone else who knows how to take control of the team not spending the money on something else. Just create a new FR and RW for every race and then tell the public…oh no it’s not matching with the F2012!!!!! Don’t lie to me eventhough i’m not an aerodynamicts. Mr LDM all you need.. 1. Geniuses with fresh ideas and innovations in your aero dept and.. 2. A team principal who knows how to take charge and control a team…. before the funder pull out all their money from your business.